Posted on 08/23/2007 5:45:11 PM PDT by Reaganesque
"This handsome indie Western damningly recounts the 1857 slayings of 120 settlers passing through Utah, but the didactic presentation, grim speechifying and tacked-on love story all signify a less-than-healthy regard for the audience's intelligence."
Variety Justin Chang
1/4 "The film feels less like historical drama than a venomous religious tract printed on celluloid." Minneapolis Star Tribune Colin Covert
"September Dawn has the ham-fisted lyricism of political ads and pharmaceutical commercials." Village Voice J. Hoberman
"When the movie isn't doling out ham-fisted history...it gives us magnificent vistas of a pristine prairie...and there's a deep sweetness to the subplot of Jonathan and Emily falling in love." Film Journal International Frank Lovece
1.5/4 "When watching the screen depiction of a historic event in which 120 people were murdered, giggling is not the appropriate response." Salt Lake Tribune Sean Means
1/5 "It has the chilling certitude of the self-righteous." Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore
2.5/5 "The real problem is that September Dawn isn't a very good movie. It moves too much like a public-school history pageant and gives us mono-dimensional characters who speak dialogue that fairly reeks of printer's ink." Arizona Republic Richard Nilsen
1/5 "The jarring MTV-style filmmaking is so distracting and the 'messaging' so unsubtle that after two long hours you find yourself leaving the theater with a massive headache, wondering when you started to hate Mormons." Orlando Weekly Brett Register
1/4 "Forget Grindhouse. September Dawn is the year's first honest-to-goodness exploitation flick." Slant Magazine Nick Schager
1/4 "Bombastic, slow-drying dramatization with lead-weight dialogue and a turgid romantic subplot." Newsday Gene Seymour
D- "Has serious problems in historical terms. But in this case they're exacerbated by the simple ineptitude of the filmmaking." One Guy's Opinion Frank Swietek
"Even if one gets past the movie's controversial depictions, there is the matter of its second-rate, made-for-television fare -- the poor battle choreography, the wooden editing and the cheesy writing." Washington Post Desson Thomson
2.5/4 "If September Dawn is a kind of Western, it's a Western utterly devoid of heroism or the usual archetypes. But the core message transcends time: Hatred laced with religious fanaticism is a toxic blend." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Dave Tianen
1/4 "Doesn't even measure up to an episode of your typical, cowboy TV show from the Fifties like Roy Rogers or The Lone Ranger. Get my drift, Kimosabe?" NewsBlaze Kam Williams
Click here for links to the full reviews.
I'm impressed with your summary. Thanks for submitting.
No
This shows the contempt for the LDS, 12 don’t care if the Mormon ax is being gord!
he still giving out double entendre or back handed post!
Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from a record engraved on golden plates. It is a record of a people God brought out of Jerusalem to the New World around 600BC. Moroni was the last prophet to write on the plates (around 400AD) and he hid them up to the Lord to restore the fullness of the gospel in the last days. That same Moroni came to Joseph Smith as an angle of God to tell Joseph where the record was hidden. We claim this fulfills what is prophesied in Rev 14:6.
Joseph account of these events is at: http://scriptures.lds.org/en/js_h/1/27-54#27
When the translation was complete Moroni took the plates back, but 3 witnesses saw the plates for themselves along with a divine manifestation that they were true, and the translation of them correct. Even though these 3 men later left the church for a time over personal disagreements with Joseph, they never denied their witness of the Book of Mormon.
Eight other men also saw and handled the plates. You can read the testimony of the 3 witnesses here: http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bm/thrwtnss and the testimony of the 8 here http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bm/eghtwtns
Both the original English manuscript and the hand made copy used for the printing of the first edition are in the church’s possession still.
Get over yourself.
First, there were no Danites. This existence and "functions" of this secret group were made up by anti-mormons to justify their excommunication for apostasy and evil behavior, and put fear and suspicion into the minds of other non-mormons (to keep them non-mormon).
Second, your great grandfather could not have been through the "blood oath" in Utah in the 1860's as the first temple in Utah was not built until 1877, and that was in St. George--not Provo.
Third, my ancestors came to Utah in 1850, and did not have plural wives, and no death threats were made against them. Those kind of things JUST DID NOT HAPPEN.
Your grandmother's story was likely impressed into her young psyche by a bitter old father trying to cover his bad behavior of whatever nature. His "expulsion" was probably self inflicted.
While we all like to think our ancestors were as pure as the driven snow, sometimes we find great-grandpa was actually a horse thief. I always thought my 1850 ancestors were church stalwarts, but found out they were Jack Mormons at best. You aren't any different, the blood flowing through your veins is not blue--it's red just like the rest of us.
Except these blood and corpses for religous reasons are in the United States of America, just 150 years ago, by an offbeat cult that prides itself on good morals, and happens to have a front running presidential candidate.
I'm not sure of Lee's exact position in the SW Utah Mormon militia, but I believe he was the ranking officer on the field during the massacre.
Where are the defenders of the Haun’s Mill massacre?
Who is defending anyone who was involved in that massacre or anyone who protected the murders after the fact?
Are there any monuments or universities named after any of the Haun’s Mill massacre murderers or anyone who helped protect the murders?
I’m not gonna go see it.
I know how it ends.
All the good people are killed...
Unlike Mountain Meadows, there were never any trials or even inquiries when it came to butchering "Mormons".
Ever think that maybe its coming out now, 2 weeks before the 150th anniversary of the Massacre?
Is it possible that that might be the reason?
Not everything is a conspiracy!
Just saw it this afternooon. As a cinematic experience, it’s about a C+.
Pretty much historically accurate.
You won’t find defenders of that here.
You’re in denial, dear Auntie.
I stand by my story. You can defile my ancestors as much as you want if it makes you feel better.
To deny the existence of the Danites is to swallow the propaganda that has been fed to you. They were in play long before the Mormons arrived in Utah.
Stephen Maloney didn’t have death threats. He had death attempts. There were a lot of people that had to flee during this period.
So they didn’t have an official “temple” built yet. They still had these ceremonies.
If you don’t want to read the historical records that have similar claims, it’s not my fault.
Now go pick a fight with someone else.
“”I know you think that this is totally bogus, but I remember working in the 2002 Olympics and hearing people talk about him being elected president, I thought they were nuts.””
That doesn’t surprise me at all, this kind of thing is said all the time about many people, from Michael Savage to various Generals, it has probably been discussed by Sheehan’s people. It doesn’t mean anything.
I never asked you why you are on these threads.
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